Terre et mer, Flandre belge et Flandre zélandaise s'affrontent dans l'estuaire de l'Escaut occidental

摘要

The Western Scheldt is the maritime access in Dutch territory to the Belgian port of Antwerp competitor of the Dutch port of Rotterdam. The deepening of the river essential to allow for container ships a permanent access to Anvers makes necessary an ecological compensation: the depolderisation of both the polder Hedwige in the Netherlands and the polder Prosper in Belgium in order to create an intertidal wetland. The flooding of polder Hedwige as enshrined in 2005 in the Middelburg Treaty between the Flanders and the Netherlands has led to a violent opposition in Zealand creating a crisis between Belgium and Netherlands.